Seeing you under the stars light
by sapphireLavender
Summary: When they find Callum and Ezran, it isn't quite what they expected...
1. And now theres a dragon

**A/N: I'm rewatching The Dragon Prince again. Unfortunately, there's only nine episodes so there's not much to go off? I don't know if I'm going to do anything with this story. The title is from the song 'Pretty Girl' by Hayley Kiyoko.**

* * *

Claudia wasn't sure exactly what she expected when they found them, thanks to the tracking spell, but this wasn't quite what she pictured.

When she and Soren had found them, a little bit away from a village full of angry villagers where they left their horses, who had been telling them about the elf who tried to borrow some guy's knife or something, they were kind of acting like... friends?

There were in a field, surrounded by some of the nearby mountains. It seemed they had decided to stop and rest for the night, and they were all talking. It didn't seem like she had kidnapped them or like they were in any danger, despite what she heard.

There was also someone else, a young girl who was sitting next to a wolf, gently petting its fur. On top of that, the egg was nowhere in sight. Claudia was a little bit confused, and concerned.

"Looks like we found them." Soren commented.

"Shh." Claudia shushed him, while they watched from behind a tree, planning on how to approach them.

"Let's go." She told Soren, and slowly moved towards where they had set up.

They noticed, naturally. The wolf barked at them and the elf went to pull out her weapons, standing up.

"Claudia!" Callum said, kind of surprised. Claudia was still kind of mad at him, given what happened last time she saw him, but she had a mission to do.

She kept an eye out for the egg, but didn't find it - there was, however, what looked a lot like a baby dragon roaming around. She gasped.

"It hatched?" Claudia looked over to Soren, and attempted to come up with a new plan, "Take down the elf, I'll get the dragon."

"Okay... Why do you need a dragon?"

"It's a powerful weapon. We can't let the elves have it." She explained briefly.

"It's terrifying." He joked.

Claudia went after the dragon. It couldn't be that fast, it was just a baby. Or at least, it wouldn't have been very fast, if Ezran hadn't picked it up and ran.

"Give it to me, Ezran."

Ezran shook his head, "We've got to return him to his mother."

The dragon looked kinda confused and happy, like a puppy. Ezran ran towards the girl with the wolf, and Bait followed.

"You can't just return it!" Claudia said, and briefly glanced at her brother and the elf to see how the battle was going. He seemed to be doing okay, but she'd still keep an eye on him, "I told you. The elves and dragons will use it."

"What would they use it for?" Callum asked, clearly not convinced, "It's a baby."

"And if we return Zym, then the war could be over." Ezran added.

"They'll use it for the war." Claudia said, just as her father had told her, "We can't let them have it."

"That's not true! Can we just sit down and talk?!" Callum suggested, which was sounding like a pretty good idea... But they couldn't, they had to complete their mission. They had to save the princes and bring the egg, well, dragon back with them.

"No! We came here to save you from the elf!"

"Well, we don't need to be saved from her. She's our friend!"

"Hey, didn't she try to kill you guys?" Soren asked.

"That's in the past." Ezran replies.

"Ah, aren't friendships so interesting?" The girl with the wolf says, and her wolf barks in reply.

* * *

They do end up sitting down and talking. Callum and Ezran keep trying to convince them that the elf is their friend, and it almost seemed believable.

"We've had some bonding moments," Ezran said, and looked down at Bait, who was in his lap, "Like that time Bait stole all of Rayla's moonberry juice and we caused an avalanche."

"You caused an avalanche?" Claudia asked, "Well... That does sound like a bonding moment."

"Yeah, nothing brings you closer than almost dying about... What, like five times?" Callum said, glancing at Rayla.

"It had to be more than that."

Soren was kind of... quieter than usual, she noticed. He told a few bad jokes, that very few people laughed at if any, but aside from that didn't really given much commentary. He was probably just thinking about the mission. Or maybe he was uneased since there was an elf, who he had just sword fought.

"So, you really think you can trust this elf?" Soren asked.

Ezran glanced at Rayla and smiled, "Seems pretty trustworthy."

"Plus, we're in this together." Callum adds, "We're all going to help bring Zym back to his mom."

"Hey, Claudia?" Soren says quietly, "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Okay." She got up and walked with Soren a little bit away from the camp. He tells her something... disturbing.

In return, she tells him something too.

"So, we should like, help them?" Soren questions.

"I mean, I guess that does seem like the right thing to do..." Claudia replies, "So I guess we should at least offer to help them. I am kind of questioning dad's motives, anyway."

"So, we're going to help Ezran, the step-prince, someone we've never met and an elf?"

"I guess so." Claudia shrugs, and smiles.

* * *

They were very quick to accept them into the group, though mostly Callum and Ezran. Which made sense, they had known them for years.

Rayla seemed a little bit unsure, which was understandable since they had been attacking her. The feeling was kind of mutual. Claudia wasn't sure if she was as trustworthy as they said.

A part of her was sure that she would betray them, and she kept an eye out. She was still an elf. But on the other hand, Ezran and Callum really seemed to trust her, and they even considered her their friend.

She had heard stories as a kid, but a lot of those stories had to be wrong. I mean, were dragons really supposed to be scary? Because if they were, she certainly didn't find Zym scary. He was adorable.

She almost wasn't sure if anything her dad had said was true. Was this dragon really that dangerous...?

Her dad had said it was a powerful weapon, and that if the elves and dragons had it then it wouldn't be good. That she had to return with the egg...

But it wasn't an egg anymore. It had hatched, and now it was a baby dragon. A supposedly very powerful one.

A very powerful one they were just going to return to the elves and dragons?

She was conflicted. Her dad was acting kind of weird and all, and he had told her to choose the egg instead of Soren if she had to... And with what he had told Soren, she really wasn't sure of anything.

Claudia didn't really know what to do, and neither did Soren. They talked about it when they weren't around the others, since it was... alarming.

"I guess we'll just have to go with it."

"Yeah... Should we be like, betraying our dad?" Soren asked.

"I don't know, but he did imply some weird things... What else are we supposed to do?"

Soren shrugged, "Guess we're returning a dragon. Although, it's a baby, so it's just like... Returning a miniature dragon."

Their conversation was interrupted by Callum telling them they had to get going. Guess they were returning a baby dragon to its mother.


	2. Bonding experiences

They were making quite a bit of progress in their journey, getting closer and closer to their destination.

There hadn't even been much trouble they ran into, until one morning when Rayla told Callum and Ezran that she had been attacked. Again, apparently.

"Who keeps attacking you, anyway?" Callum asked her.

"I don't know, I didn't ask their name."

Callum packed things up as quickly as he could, in a panic, "Well, then we probably shouldn't stick around to find out, you know, cause I don't see that ending well."

"Wait... You didn't ask who they were?" Soren questioned.

"There are better times for that." Rayla grabbed Bait and Ezran got Zym.

"What would be a better time than the middle of a battle?" Callum joked, "That's when I like to do my introductions."

"Whatever. We have to go." Rayla insisted.

Claudia still didn't really trust Rayla of course, and Rayla wasn't really helping her case, with someone after her and all. Though, Claudia and Soren had been after her so really, who was to say if it was suspicious?

But it wasn't like anyone else had been sent to save the princes, so who was attacking Rayla?

"So... What happened the first time?" Claudia asked once they had made a little distance away from their camp.

"The first time?" Callum turned his head to look at Claudia.

"Well, you said this happened before, right?" She said, "So what happened last time?"

"You know, that's a good question. Rayla?"

"I still don't think this is the time. We should be focusing on getting away from them."

"We can multitask." Callum said.

"So..." Claudia waited, "Are you gonna tell us?"

Rayla sighed, "I heard something, they showed up and then usual fight things happened."

"Huh."

* * *

They didn't end up running into them, luckily, and Rayla became a lot calmer and generally more fun to be around, though she still seemed to have something on her mind.

Claudia was glad that they didn't run into whoever it was, but a little disappointed that they didn't get to find out who they were. And besides, it wasn't like they couldn't take them.

It was a nice night. Callum, Ezran, Soren and the girl with the wolf seemed to be asleep. Rayla wasn't, but she was a Moonshadow elf, so wouldn't she prefer the night?

Honestly, Claudia still didn't trust her. She did try to kill Callum and Ezran, and she had only known her for a few days, so she didn't have much to go off. After everything she heard about elves?

She was sitting on a rock and seemed to be just enjoying the night. Claudia approached her. If she did attack her, she'd be able to defend herself, anyway.

"Hey." Claudia greeted.

Rayla turned her head to look at her, and waved her hand, "Hey."

"So... Do they know?"

"Know what?"

"About the King." Claudia asked.

Rayla frowned, "I don't know."

"So you haven't told them."

"No." She said, "I tried to, but it was a bad time. And we had to save the egg."

"Are you going to?" Claudia asked, sitting down next to her, "They're going to find out eventually."

"I don't know. Maybe." Rayla replied, "I just don't know if there's a good time to tell them. We're being tracked by someone and the egg is hatched. We're not going to be catching a break anytime soon."

"Yeah..." Claudia says, and then changes the subject, "Hey, next time you see them, you should ask them their name."

Rayla smiled a bit, "Yeah... maybe."

"Though, I should also ask who the wolf girl is."

"Wolf girl?"

"You know, the girl with the wolf. The one that travels with you, that one."

"Ellis." Rayla tells her.

"Ah..."

* * *

A couple days passed and they were doing... okay. There was still possibly someone tracking them, so they were attempting to be careful. They usually were, given that they had a dragon, but right now it was especially important.

And the dragon couldn't fall into the wrong hands... That it was powerful and dangerous. That was what her dad had said, but he also locked a guy in a dungeon. Honestly, some of the things he did were really weird.

Why bother thinking about what he had said, though? They had already made their choice, even if they could technically go back on it. It wasn't like she could return with an egg that wasn't an egg, though. Maybe she could just go find an egg and paint it or something, return with that.

 _Yeah... He'd probably believe that._

Claudia sat underneath the tree, currently thinking about a book instead, and unaware of the conversation Callum, Ezran and Rayla were currently having.

"So, why don't you, Claudia and Soren- actually, maybe not Soren," Callum said, glancing at Soren who was currently working out, "...Anyways, why don't you and Claudia go find something to eat? Bonding experience."

"I could just do it alone."

"But maybe if you get to know each other, you'll be friends." Ezran proposed.

"Fine." Rayla said.

It wasn't really that she didn't like Claudia, or didn't want to spend time with Claudia and find some berries or something. But she did like, just meet her and up until a few days ago, they were definitely enemies.

It was a bit more questionable now, since they were on the same side, but she was sure Claudia still didn't really trust her. She didn't really trust her, either.

"Hey, Claudia?"

* * *

They weren't that far away when they found some berries, luckily. Claudia felt like she should say something, but she wasn't entirely sure what. She talks about the nature and makes some jokes.

"So these are moonberries?" She asks, holding one up. Rayla nods, "So do all the primal sources have a berry?"

"What? Um... Maybe."

"Huh." Claudia smiled, and continued picking the berries, "So what all happened while we were tracking you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, I know you got attacked and something happened with the egg, but what else happened?"

"Well..."

Rayla gave her a brief summary, not particularly detailed or anything.

"Hey, how did you find us?"

"Huh? Well, we tried dogs at first, but they lost the trail. So I did a tracking spell with your braid."

Rayla puts one of her hands in her hair, probably where the braid was.

"Kinda a shame. It was cute."

Rayla didn't respond, and suddenly got very alert. Which made sense, because she did have to dodge a weapon almost immediately after.

It seemed that guy was back again.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm still rewatching it again. There really is not a lot to go off of... Rayla and Soren are really hard to write. Rayla and Claudia have some more interactions in this chapter, I guess. Claudia is also difficult to write. There really isn't that much to go off. Also, for some reason she never asked about Ellis.**


	3. A lot of bad plans that are not good sol

This wasn't exactly what Claudia had pictured when Rayla had asked her if she wanted to look for food and stuff with her. She wasn't sure what she had pictured, exactly, but it wasn't this. Maybe something where they'd bond a little more, not get attacked.

Instead, that guy had shown up. He seemed to be pretty intent on attacking Rayla for whatever reason.

Now, Rayla had pulled out her blades and was currently in the type of position that made her appear ready for attacks. She probably was.

He swings his weapon at Rayla, who dodges and moves closer, away from Claudia. They both move so fast that Claudia isn't sure what's going on, or who's winning or anything. But it looks like it might not be Rayla.

Claudia tries to think of some way to help, but the only things she can think of that would work she can't do because she doesn't have the materials or her primal stone. There were some things she could to do, but she'd need a clear opening, otherwise she could hurt Rayla.

Rayla kept dodging and using her blades to defend against his attacks. She was incredibly quick and acrobatic and despite it being a bad time, Claudia did find it a little impressive.

"Why do you keep attacking?" Rayla asked, probably pointlessly. Whatever the answer was, it was unlikely that it mattered.

"Even if what you were saying is true, why should they trust you?"

"Because, we're friends." Rayla said, slashing at his weapon.

But he still didn't seem to believe her, though he looked like he might be considering it.

"You're a Moonshadow elf." He stated, "You aren't a friend. You tried to kill them."

Something about that sounded a little harsh. Claudia wasn't sure why, considering her and her brother had thought similar things a few days ago, but...

The guy got the upper hand, and Claudia panicked for a second before she realized she had a clear opening. Though, at most this would probably only stall him. It'd give them time to get away, though.

Claudia whispered it, hoping to get some surprise in there so he wouldn't move before it hit him. It worked, and his battle with Rayla was interrupted by some small, not particularly strong flames in front of him.

Rayla was surprised too, evidently. She looked at Claudia, who gestured for them to leave, "Come on."

With some backflips and other various, unnecessary flips Rayla fled with Claudia while the guy was preoccupied.

* * *

"So whoever it is who's tracking you, is under the impression you kidnapped the princes?"

"Yeah." Rayla said quietly. It had been a few hours since the fight, and they had stopped and set up camp in a cave. It was pretty dark, the only light source really being the fire.

"Maybe we should make some kind of plan." Callum suggested, "You know, for when he shows up again."

"Like what?" Soren asked.

Callum thought about it, but ultimately didn't have a response. How do you plan for someone's attack if you don't know anything about them, "I'm not sure, I'd need more information."

"Well, indescribable terrors were easy enough to plan for." Ellis added, "Even if they weren't technically real to begin with."

The wolf bark and she pet it. Rayla and Claudia described the guy to the others in as much detail as they could.

"Hmm..." Callum said, thinking, "How about Slish-slash, Chase and Flash?"

"What?" Soren questioned.

"If he shows up again, he'll probably be after Rayla. So you'll give her some backup and then when he's distracted, he'll be chased away by Ellis and a very cute dog." Callum proposed, saying that last part in an animal voice and petting the mentioned wolf, "Then Ezran will hold Bait up again and flash! He'll be temporary blinded."

"I think this type of plan worked better with monsters." Ezran said, "Even even then, our first attempt was..."

"A horrible disaster where we all thought we almost got eaten by horrible, terrifying monsters?" Ellis suggested, cheerfully.

"Yeah!"

"Maybe it is. But we do not have a better plan." Callum replied.

"What about magic? There's actually a lot of things you can do in the daylight that could be useful." Claudia proposed, "And that's just with a primal source."

Rayla suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable at the implications of that last comment.

A lot of plans were thrown around before they decided they maybe they'd try just talking. If this guy thought Rayla had kidnapped them, then maybe he could be reasoned with.

Maybe he wouldn't listen to Rayla, but maybe he'd listen to one of them? They all hoped so, otherwise they'd have to go with one of the other plans.

* * *

Zym ran around, excited, as they were packing up. The baby dragon flapped its small wings that it couldn't yet use and pounced on Bait, full of energy. Bait clearly didn't feel like playing, glowing red and hopping away, leaving Zym to find someone else to play with.

Evidently, that person was Claudia. He ran up to her and jumped, trying to get her attention. Claudia turned towards him, smiling, "Hey there."

Zym made cute noises in response, and Claudia sat down next to the small dragon and played with it.

This was supposed to be a powerful weapon, maybe the most powerful creature in the entire world. Something that the elves and dragons would use against them.

She remembered when she told Rayla that, back when they first met. She didn't seem to have any idea of how they would supposedly use it. Claudia didn't know if she did, either.

Zym rubbed his head against her hand and she gently pets the baby dragon.

"Hey, what are you up to? Dragonsitting?" Soren interrupted.

"Isn't it weird?" Claudia asked, ignoring the joke, "A few days ago we were supposed to be rescuing the princes and retrieving the egg, but now..."

"Well, rescuing the princes wasn't exactly what dad had in mind."

"This dragon is the most powerful creature in the world." Claudia said, "And we're returning it to its mom."

"Yeah, sure looks powerful." Soren commented sarcastically.

"Do you think any of that was true? What dad said?" Claudia asked. _Did he really take it to protect us?_

"Can't trust everything he says."

"Yeah..."

* * *

 **A/N: I think you just need a primal source to do things, right? So assuming that Claudia would know it, she could probably do fire or something. I still have no idea how to write Soren, but I think that he wouldn't appreciate an egg being more important than him.**

 **I'm also guessing that with whatever Claudia has heard about elves and dragons, this is going against all of it.**


End file.
